From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Verdict was a controversial 2007
BBCtelevision
programme produced by RDF Media in which twelve celebrities formed
the jury in the trial of a
fictional rape case. The programme
was filmed with real legal and medical professionals, but with
actors playing the victim, defendants, and witnesses. The jury
considered their verdict in front of cameras[1].

Contents

Synopsis

The case featured the fictitious trial of a famous international
footballer, Damien Scott (played by Javone Prince), and his friend,
James Greer (Mark Wood), charged with the rape of a young woman
named Anna Crane (Alice O'Connell). The twelve jurors sat in
judgement on a four-day unscripted trial in a real courtroom,
presided over by a real judge - the recently retired Common Serjeant of
London, His Honour Neil Denison QC - with real barristers
prosecuting and defending. The jury retired to begin their
deliberations, with TV cameras to observe the jury as it reached
its verdict.

The jury eventually reached either unanimous or majority
verdicts of not guilty on all counts. Several members of the jury
stated that they believed the rapes had taken place, but that
insufficient evidence prevented a conviction.

Criticisms

The show has been criticised by a number of organisations[2][3][4],
including the End Violence Against Women campaign group, who
condemned the BBC2 programme. End Violence Against Women is a
coalition whose members include Amnesty International UK, Refuge
and Women's Aid. Professor Liz Kelly, the campaign chairwoman,
said: "The Verdict is guilty of trivialising rape. This is
reality television that misses much of the reality of rape - for
example, the fact that most women are raped by someone they know.
With rape rarely dealt with at any length by broadcasters, The
Verdict is a missed opportunity to show the facts on rape. The
bleak truth about rape is that little support or justice exists for
women in this country" [5].

Others have criticised the decision of the programme producers
for including Jeffrey Archer, as he would not
currently be able to sit in a jury in real life due to his criminal
conviction for perjury[6] (and as
a peer, because juries are selected from amongst those on the
Electoral Register, he would not be considered for selection
irrespective of his perjury conviction), and Stan Collymore
who was accused of violence by his former girlfriend Ulrika Jonsson,
in the jury. The programme is also viewed as having selected women
jurors who were dominated by the male jurors, and many felt they
were simply going along with these men's views. Defenders of the
programme claim that - far from trivialising rape - the programme
brought the difficult and complex issues surrounding rape trials
into the public consciousness, and highlighted the reasons why the
conviction rate for rape cases in the UK remains so low [7].